Wednesday, September 3, 2014

One of the privileges of being a college instructor is having an office. One of the practices on my campus involves instructors decorating their doors with posters, sayings, etc. I decided to add some creative writing quotes and wisdom on my door. Here are some I culled from my Internet search:

"If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all." - Anne Tyler

This is so true. Writing is scary - especially when you are in the midst of a dry spell, when nothing you write sounds right, when all you can come up with is crap. But write anyway. Write crap till the magic returns.

"I'm a writer. Anything you say or do may be used in a story."

I love this. I found this unattributed nugget and had to include it. Lesson one for beginning writers is this quote. You use EVERYTHING you encounter in your day-to-day happenings to fuel your writing. I tell my students this story all the time. Two of my daughters were arguing over clothes once. Really frustrating. So...I wrote a scene in my Mall Demons Series where two characters, sisters, are arguing over a blouse. The climactic scene involved one of the sisters being eaten by a demon because of what she did to her sister.

Lastly (for now),

"Sometimes only paper will listen to you."

Another unattributed saying that empowers any and all who have something to say but feel they have no outlet for their words. Maybe the people in your life won't listen, but your friend, the paper you are writing on, or the screen you are typing on, will listen. And that is a wonderful thing. So...write.